Vanthoor Beats Pepper in NLS Photo Finish

Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre beat Red Bull Team ABT to victory by the narrowest margin in NLS history during the second race of the series’ season-opening double header at the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

After losing out to the No. 4 Falken Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Joel Eriksson and Nico Menzel during Saturday’s four-hour curtain raiser, the Manthey EMA crew looked to again come up short in race two.

This time, the No. 27 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Kelvin van der Linde and Jordan Pepper headed into the final lap in the lead, having benefited from a Code 60 being removed after Vanthoor and Eriksson had already gone through at slower speed.

Pepper started the final lap with a lead of eight seconds over Vanthoor’s No. 911 Porsche but slowed approaching the finish line in an attempt to run down the clock as he did not have enough fuel to complete another lap.

This allowed Vanthoor to charge past the Lamborghini approaching the line, with the two cars separated by just 0.042 seconds for the smallest winning margin in championship history.

Eriksson and Tim Heinemann finished third aboard the No. 4 Falken Porsche, a day after the Swedish driver had beaten the Grello Porsche to victory with Menzel as his co-driver.

The opening race on Saturday saw the No. 14 Mercedes-AMG Team HRT Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Daniel Juncadella and Frank Bird start from pole, only to be passed by the No. 6 sister car of Hubert Haupt when it jumped the start.

Haupt was eventually ordered to serve a drivethrough penalty, while Juncadella and Bird saw its run curtailed with a puncture not much later.

The No. 4 Falken Porsche then took the lead of the contest in the second hour when Menzel drafted past the Frank Stippler-driven No. 16 Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II towards the end of the Dottinger Hohe.

After initially dropping back behind the No. 911 Porsche, Eriksson then made the deciding move of the race when he slipstreamed the No. 4 machine past Vanthoor on the Dottinger Hohe with an hour and 17 minutes remaining.

Meanwhile, the sister No. 3 car, which appeared to have a strategic advantage over the cars ahead as it had a lap in hand over the pitstop cycle, saw a victory run fall apart by consecutive setbacks.

First, Alessio Picariello was given a drive through penalty for contact with another car, putting the Belgian on the back foot before he stopped on track with an issue in the closing minutes.

Out front, Menzel and Eriksson were able to take victory with a margin of 3.644 seconds over Vanthoor and Estre, while Stippler and Winkelhock completed the podium aboard the No. 16 Audi.

The opening race of the NLS season was also notable for a significant incident involving IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge regular Robert Wickens, who shared a Target Competition Hyundai Elantra N TCR with Mark Wilkins.

The Canadian racer reportedly crashed heavily at the Hohenrain chicane, with the car said to have ended up over the barriers and Wickens transported to a local hospital by helicopter.

Bryan Herta Autosport, the team Wickens races for in Pilot Challenge, put out a statement on Saturday declaring that Wickens was “concious and alert,” later adding that he would stay in hospital for observation.

NLS, meanwhile, put out a statement declaring that a CT scan revealed no significant injuries.

Wickens himself later wrote on social media: “Thank you to the medical team at the track and here at the hospital for their care.

“I’m feeling good and will get some rest here under their supervision this weekend. I’m eager to get to the track and get back to work with BHA.”

RESULTS: NLS1/NLS2